"You've done well. We will handle the rest from here on," teacher Hayan told Ning and sent him back to his room.
Ning wanted to see how they dealt with the woman, but he was also a little tired from all the fighting today, so he decided to take his leave.
He returned to his room and quickly met with a plethora of questions from the guys that were waiting for him to tell them about his 'friend'. They didn't believe that it was just a friend at all.
Ning couldn't tell them anything else, so most of them were forced to leave without any answer.
"A girl came to meet with you from so far away, there's no way she doesn't like you," the prince said after most of the people that weren't from his room left.
"No, she really is just a friend," Ning said.
"But she could be more," the prince said. "Don't miss this opportunity."
Ning sighed. The conversation was basically pointless, but he couldn't tell these people that he had been married for over millions of years now.
He thought of taking the opportunity to ask the prince about his grandfather and family, but since Clara had said that she didn't think she was ready, Ning stopped. There was no reason for him to get involved in something that wasn't his problem.
He left to get some food afterward as everyone gathered for dinner. Ning noticed a significant absence in the number of teachers and wondered how it was going with finding the truth.
He had yet to tell anyone about what had happened, so everyone was equally concerned and confused as well.
It was around when Ning finished up his meal that the teachers finally came to the dining hall. As they got around to getting food for themselves, the headmaster turned towards Ning and spoke.
"You're finished eating, huh?" he asked.
Ning nodded as he was about ready to leave.
"Well, stick around for now," the headmaster said. "I have something to talk with you about."
After the students left, the headmaster finally started speaking. "Can you tell me what happened exactly? How did you catch that woman?" he asked.
Ning thought for a brief moment and nodded. "I was with my friend when she asked me to show what I had learned. I showed her my Void Essence, and accidentally stripped away that woman's light concealment. That's how I found her and subsequently captured her while she was trying to run away."
The headmaster's eyes were wide when NIng was done with his story. He looked toward the other teachers who were equally just as surprised as he was.
"Wait a second, did you say Void Essence?" the headmaster asked, completely forgetting about the main problem they were talking about just beforehand.
"Mhm," Ning nodded. "I learned a skill from the shop back in the academy."
"And you managed to learn it? You managed to use it?" he asked.
Ning shrugged. "It wasn't that hard," he said.
The headmaster took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. "Dear god, just how pure is your Essence?" he couldn't help but ask. "To generate Void Essence, it has to be extremely pure as far as I know. Void Essence just doesn't exist except under very, very rare circumstances, which I do not believe has happened in our continent yet. `"
Ning nodded. "That's what it said in the skill book too," he said. "So I learned it."
"Hmm," the Headmaster thought for a bit. "Ok, let me talk about what I want to talk to you about."
"Yes?" Ning asked.
"As I mentioned my promise earlier, I was planning on giving you two rewards based on your performance," the headmaster said. "However, something has changed now."
Ning's eyes narrowed for a moment. "What changed?" he asked.
"That woman you brought in," the headmaster said. "She's been found guilty of tampering with our academy by sabotaging our food supplies. On top of that, she was also found guilty of following you around with maleficent intent, so the Essence Heart academy is now about to gain a rather large punishment."
"Oh…" Ning got curious. 'What sort of punishment?"
The headmaster shook his head. "I do not know just yet, the committee members are still deciding. However, whatever the decision is, it will be bad for them without a doubt. They will no longer have a chance at victory at all."
"Oh," Ning said with a surprised look. "I did not expect my actions to produce such a drastic result."
"Their actions were drastic as well," the headmaster said. "Anyway, given the situation, I've decided on something. I will no longer let you have 2 rewards."
"Instead, I will give you 3."
Ning's eyes widened a bit in happiness. "Oh, what sort?" he asked excitedly.
The headmaster smirked. "What exactly do you want? Do you have any idea?" he asked.
Ning thought for a moment. "Honestly, I'm not sure I know as much about what is good for me and what is not when compared to you, so I would like to request the headmaster to make the decision for me."
"Haha, okay then. I will make the decision for you."
The headmaster reached into his clothes and pulled out something. He tossed it at Ning who quickly caught it in the air and looked at it.
It was a small cylindrical piece of metal with a small purple gem attached to the front of it. The entire thing was on a rather sturdy feeling rope.
"The thread is made from a spider Essence Beast known as the Strong Iron Spider. It's known for its strings that have unnaturally strong and can't even be ripped destroyed by someone in the Essence Soul realm."
"As for the metal itself, it is a titanium alloy, that is superbly strong," the headmaster said. "As for the last purple crystal, that is just how much space was crammed into that small place."
"I see," Ning said, looking at the object in his hand. "Thank you for the Storage artifact, headmaster."
